What is a Christian Testimony?

The word “testimony” is used in few different ways. One common usage is when a person is brought into a courtroom and placed under oath to tell, attest to, or give witness to his or her personal knowledge or experience with reference to the case that is being heard. To link the word “Christian” to the word “testimony” is to narrow the focus of the testimony and who can give it. Only a Christian can give a Christian testimony, and a Christian is one who has received forgiveness for sin by trusting alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ for that forgiveness.

A Christian testimony is given when Christians relate how we came to know the God of the Bible through the moving of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Most commonly, we are sharing how we became Christians by God’s miraculous intervention and work in our lives through specific events. Often we can only see that in hindsight, but sharing that experience is vital. Also, when giving this testimony, a sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always a necessity. Though we can include specific information about how we came to accept Christ as Savior, those details should not be the focus of the testimony. The focus should be about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

A Christian testimony should not end with the conversion experience, but should also include the ways in which the Lord has worked in our lives to sanctify us for His service. As an example, a testimony could include how He brought us through a difficult time in our life (such as a loss or some sort or a severe illness) and built our faith in Him through that experience. We should also be able to describe the continual process by which the Spirit who now indwells us leads, guides, molds and shapes us into mature Christians. Again, the focus should be on the Lord and His faithfulness, and should include at least one verse that speaks of that faithfulness (Psalm 18:2, 6).

2 Comments:

Thank you so much for this post. I especially like when you said “… when giving this testimony, a sharing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is always a necessity. Though we can include specific information about how we came to accept Christ as Savior, those details should not be the focus of the testimony. The focus should be about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.” This I’ve found to also be true when telling my story at an A.A. meeting. Speakers should not dwell on the “war stories” of what they used to do,” especially when it serves nothing more than to romanticize the old life. Instead, they should focus on (a) what the problem was, (b) what happened to get rid of the problem, and (c) what their life is like now.